Iraqis struggle in U.S.

April 23, 2009|By Steve Lannen McClatchy/Tribune news

LEXINGTON, Ky. — - Faced with ongoing war and death threats, millions of Iraqis fled their homeland in recent years. They not only sought refuge from the kidnappings and sectarian killings, but for the ones who came to America, they also brought the expectation of a land full of jobs and promise - the America that they have been told so much about.

Their arrival here, however, coincides with the economic recession, and their hopes for better lives in the United States are severely blunted by economic hardship. They stand among the thousands of Americans who are unemployed.

By the time Raghad Abdul Majeed, 34, decided it was time to leave Iraq, her husband was already dead, carjacked and killed for his money in lawless Baghdad. The bullet left in the envelope outside her home was the sign. They were Shiites living in Dora, a no-longer-welcoming Sunni neighborhood.

It was time for Majeed and her two daughters to go.

Her professional training as an Arabic teacher didn't count for much here because she could not speak English.

After a week as a hotel maid, she was fired for not working fast enough. Then, her temporary job at the Amazon.com shipping center stopped soon after the holidays.

Majeed recently began working full time at a retirement home, doing laundry and other chores as she cares for the elderly.

"It's not just my problem. It's the problem of all the Iraqi families here," she said. "If someone told me these are the obstacles I would find in America, I wouldn't have come. ... I would return to Iraq."

Subbhi Abbas Ali, 64, earns $9 an hour toiling in a small shop on a machine used to cut and stitch leather that is not unlike the one he remembers in Baghdad. However, in Iraq, there were 40 machines in the factory - and he was the factory's owner.

His decision to move his family to the United States began when he was kidnapped and held four days for ransom in Baghdad more than two years ago.

Despite the torture and loss he endured, he said it is his "good luck" to live in the United States. His wife, younger son and two daughters live with him; two daughters remain in Iraq, and his oldest son is in Syria.

All he wants is for his oldest son and his family to receive a visa to come live with him. Ali is fearful that his son - even though he is in Syria - could be targeted by the same people who kidnapped him.